Monday, June 25, 2012

Accepting Our Body Image: Questions, Conclusion

Another celeb trying to be perfect

The Reactions to Tracey Gold's LifeTime Show and What America is doing to get Healthy!

Not everyone is going to agree with everyone and that's why we are encouraged to express our opinions, share from our own life, research, discuss and in the right situations... debate. So now I will present to you some bloggers who are talking about the CONCERNS of Tracey's show:

I think I've pretty much exhausted this topic and that now it's time to wrap it up with questions (I'll answer on the comments) and comments and to discuss what America is doing to get healthy in regards to the body image!

So for today.. is America (parents, teachers, medical community, government, etc...) doing enough to try to work on healthy body image?

I do faithfully watch one show on LifeTime called The Conversation and I like the various discussions and guests on that show. That link goes to the FaceBook group. But I feel we still need less of the celebrities presenting the healthy body image and more of say of a show, maybe something streaming online, of real women talking about this and teaching.

And two of my most favorite reads that started my NailAThon group (Avon based focus on great nails and learning how to take care of them!) came from focusing on these articles:

Finally the best of reading that I found on the Internet:

SELF ESTEEM /
BODY IMAGE
SIZE POSITIVE

It’s about you
You’re okay just as you are. You are a
unique person, capable and loveable, with special talents and strengths,
with inner wisdom and creativity – a human being of value. So accept
and respect yourself now.Get comfortable with the real you, inside and out.Accept your size and shape, your feelings, yourself, unconditionally. Honor your character, talents and achievements.
No need to work on perfecting yourself. In
fact, it can be self-defeating, and a big waste of time. Perfection is a
myth. It doesn’t exist in the real world and it certainly doesn’t exist
in human appearance. Many women who struggle with eating, weight and
body image spend inordinate amounts of energy trying to change their
appearance. They make their bodies their life’s work; they put their
lives on hold “waiting to be thin.”
Instead of trying to meet society’s
impossible standards of female beauty, give yourself affirmations on how
special you really are. Find the peace and serenity of your life,
buried though it may be under many layers. Accept this place where you
are on your life’s journey and live with joy and relish.

Recognize that beauty, health and strength come in all sizes.
Real beauty encompasses what’s inside, your zest for life, your
fun-loving spirit, a smile that lights up your face, your compassion for
others, says Carol Johnson, author of Self-Esteem Comes in all Sizes.
It’s being friendly, generous and loving, having strength and courage,
and respecting yourself just as you are — goals that we all can achieve.

Your body is okay. Your size is okay.
The good news is that you can change how you feel about your body by
changing your self-talk. If you are especially concerned over weight,
understand that your body has an opinion of what it should weigh at this
time in your life. It regulates weight around a setpoint that may be
nearly impossible to change. Recognize how destructive the obsession to
be thin is and how it harms the people you love, especially children.
Your weight is not a measure of your self-worth. Accepting this can give
you new freedom.

Be size positive. Set
an example of respect for size diversity. People naturally come in
different sizes and builds, and that’s okay. If you are a large woman
it’s especially important in our size-focused society to be a role model
who radiates confidence, self-respect and friendliness for other adults
and children who, sadly, may fear going out in public. Or, if you are a
thin person, keeping thin through semi-starvation, remember this means
an anorexic personality (anxiety, irritability, depression, inability to
concentrate, social withdrawal, isolation from friends and family,
preoccupation with food, loneliness, lack of compassion and generosity,
self-centeredness), weak and brittle bones, and other serious health
issues. Our society is currently obsessed with thinness, which hurts us
all. When will this nation come to its senses, reject size prejudice,
accept a wider range of shapes and sizes, and focus on health rather
than weight? We each can do our part to bring about this healthful
change.

Dress for success.
Dress in ways that make you feel good, that make your own statement
and, most of all, that fit now. Clean out your closet of clothes that
don’t fit; clothes you can wear only during dieting bouts. Give away or
store too-small clothing. This makes room for clothes you will enjoy
wearing.

Want what you have – contentment.
T he secret to happiness is not to get what you want, but to want what
you have . Though much underrated today, contentment has long been
valued in world religions and philosophy. Realizing the full measure of
our abundance can bring true happiness.

Keep a gratitude journal.
Have you inventoried the richness of your life assets? Try it. Add to
that inventory and each day write down three things you are grateful for
in your gratitude journal. It can be humbling to realize the abundance
of riches we have, and how much we take it for granted. The everyday
joys of family, friends, home, community, country, health, work and the
wonder of nature are all around us. Contemplating this can bring you
deep serenity.

Choose self-care. Set
aside time every day for yourself. T ake time for self-care and healing.
Invest in small things that enrich your life: listening to music,
reading a novel, napping after lunch, laughing with your spouse or best
friend, eating a nourishing meal, telephoning a friend, taking a stretch
break at your desk, enjoying a sunset.

Live assertively.
Assertiveness allows people to express their honest feelings and
opinions comfortably, to be open and direct, without anxiety or guilt,
and to obtain their personal rights without denying the rights of
others. Assertive persons respect themselves, speak calmly and clearly,
maintain eye contact, project their voices, and smile sincerely when
they mean it. By contrast, responding to others in passive or aggressive
ways involves manipulation that respects neither yourself nor them. (By
the way, in lists like this, and of course, this one, read, consider
and take what seems best for you at this time in your life – and leave
the rest. That’s being assertive!)

Strengthen your social support
. Include pleasant and stimulating interaction with others in your day,
every day. Maintain nourishing relationships with family and friends.
Promote communication and sharing of feelings in appropriate ways.
Encourage positive self-talk, praise and support for each other. Getting
involved in volunteer work is an excellent way to increase your social
network as you lend a helping hand and a helping heart.

Shape a healthy balance.
You’ll feel better and have more energy when you develop healthy living
habits that come so naturally and feel so normal you hardly think about
them. Normalize your life by being regularly active and keeping
yourself well nourished without dieting. Take care of your health, but
don’t obsess over it or struggle for perfection. Find a satisfying
balance of wellness and wholeness that works for you at this time in
your life and helps you live the way you want.

45% of boys and girls in grades three
through six want to be thinner; 37% have already dieted; 7% score in the
eating disorder range on a test of children's eating habits.
Maloney, MJ, McGuire, J. Daniels, Sr., and Specker, B. "Dieting behavior
and eating attitudes in children," Pediatrics 84 (1989) pp 482-487.

46% of nine- to eleven-year-olds say
they are sometimes or very often on diets. Gustafson-Larson, A. M., and
Terry, R. D., "Weight-related behaviors and concerns of fourth grade
children." Journal of the American Dietetic Assoc. 92 (7)(1992), pp
818-822.

70% of normal weight girls in high
school feel fat and are on a diet. Ferron, C. "Body Image in adolescence
in cross-cultural research" Adolescence 32 (1997), pp. 735-745.

Females need 17% body fat in order to
menstruate for the first time and 22% to have regular cycles. Cooke,
Kaz. Real Gorgeous: The Truth About Body and Beauty. Norton, 1996.

Over half
of the females age 18-25 studied would prefer to be run over by a truck
than to be fat, and two-thirds would choose to be mean or stupid rather
than fat. Gaesser, Glenn A., PhD. Big Fat Lies: The truth about your
weight and your health. Gurze Books, 2001.

A survey of college students found that
they would prefer to marry an embezzler, drug user, shoplifter, or blind
person than someone who is fat. Gaesser, Glenn A., PhD. Big Fat Lies:
The truth about your weight and your health. Gurze Books, 2001.

The death rate for eating disorders is 5
to 20%. American Psychiatric Association, "Practice Guidelines for
Eating Disorders." American Journal of Psychiatry, 150(2) (1993) pp.
212-228.

Americans spend $50 billion annually on
diet products. Garner, David W., PhD, and Wooley, Susan C., PhD.
"Confronting the Failure of Behavioral and Dietary Treatments for
Obesity," Clinical Psychological Review 11 (1991), pp. 729-780. $50
billion is more than the Gross National Product of more than half of all
the nations in the world, including Ireland.

From the Council on Size & Weight Discrimination, website, www.cswd.org Body image: What is it?
Body image is how we feel about our bodies.
For many people today it is a big issue that affects how they think
and feel about themselves as a person.
With a positive or healthy body image you
feel comfortable and confident in your body, have a generally true
perception of your size and shape, and understand that physical
appearance does not define your character and value. You accept your
unique body and don’t spend an much time worrying about food, weight or
calories.
On the other hand, people with negative
body image continually compare their bodies to others, feel shame,
anxiety and self-consciousness about their bodies, and may have a
distorted perception of their shape and size. A poor body image can lead
to unhappiness, emotional distress, low self-esteem, dieting, anxiety,
depression, obsession with weight loss, and a greater likelihood of
developing an eating disorder.

When you look in the mirror, do you like what you see? Is your body image positive or negative?
If your answer is negative, you are not
alone. Women today are under much pressure to measure up to a certain
social and cultural ideal of beauty, which can lead to poor body image.
We are constantly bombarded with Barbie-like doll images. By presenting
an ideal that is so difficult to achieve and maintain, the cosmetic and
diet product industries are assured of growth and profits. It's no
accident that youth is increasingly promoted, along with thinness, as
essential criteria for beauty. The message we're hearing tends to be
that "all women need to lose weight" and that the natural aging process
is a "disastrous" fate for women.
Other pressures can come from the people in our lives.

Family and friends can influence your body image with positive and negative comments.

A doctor's health advice can be misinterpreted and affect how a woman sees herself and feels about her body.

Adapted from information on the National Women’s Health site www.womenshealth.gov/BodyImage
and the National Eating Disorders Association site at www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/p.asp?WebPage_ID=286&Profile_ID=41157.

The media lies

Although advertising, the most powerful arm
of the mass media, is all around us, many of us believe we are immune
from its effects. This mistaken belief is one of the reasons it is so
effective. The average American sees three thousand ads per day. Almost
all commercial media aimed at women are supported by advertising
revenue from the fashion, beauty, diet, and food industries, and their
survival depends on their ability to please their sponsors.

Magazine editors, in a fierce competition
for readers, know that to make a sale, they need only play on our
doubts or create new ones, making us think we have "problems" that
don’t really exist ("What’s He Really Thinking When He Sees You
Naked?"). Every part of the female body is picked apart and
scrutinized, with most articles telling us outright which products we
should buy to fix – or at least camouflage – our numerous "flaws."

In trying to understand the media’s
objectification of women and how it makes us feel, it can help to think
of the camera lens as a white male eye. Have you noticed that the
covers of women’s and men’s magazines are almost always female?

The female stars of mainstream movies and TV
shows not only look sexy but often behave in the kind of subservient,
helpless way that many men find appealing. The camera eye is usually
focused on women who look and act in a way that pleases men; men look
(active), and women receive their gaze (passive). The media’s gaze is
essentially a male gaze. We are so accustomed to seeing things through
the dominant male perspective that we might not even notice the
dynamics at play.

The media eye, in its many different forms,
objectifies all of us. The result? Many of us begin to objectify
ourselves. When you’re in an intimate moment with your partner, do you
imagine what you look like from the outside rather than focus on the
sensations that you feel inside?

When you walk down the sidewalk, are you
thinking about how you appear – about how big your butt looks – instead
of thinking about the beauty or stimuli around you?
Self-objectification can lead to feeling self-conscious and humiliated,
and it can make us believe that our bodies exist only for the pleasure
of others.Excerpted from The Media Lies, Our Bodies, Ourselveswww.ourbodiesourselves.org/book/excerpt.asp?id=2

The diet trap

Many adolescent girls are unhappy with
their bodies and try to lose weight by using unhealthy dieting
practices such as skipping meals, fasting, smoking, severely
restricting calories, or eliminating whole classes of foods such as
starches and sugars. Some girls are using even more extreme methods,
such as making themselves vomit and using diet pills and laxatives.

Also, diets may cause some young people to
gain more weight and develop lifelong unhealthy eating habits. One
study, for example, found that girls who diet actually gain more weight
in the long term than girls who do not diet. This is because dieting
may cause a cycle in which they eat very little and then overeat or
binge eat. [Editors note: In addition, excess weight regain after a
diet may involve “setpoint creep,” from disruption of the body’s
natural weight regulation.]
Girls who feel dissatisfied with their
bodies and use unhealthy dieting methods are also at increased risk for
eating disorders, obesity, poor nutrition, growth impairments, and
emotional problems such as depression.

Research also shows that people under
age 30 are more likely to smoke if they are trying to lose weight, even
though many want to stop smoking. Teen girls may be especially open to
the risks of smoking to control their weight. Cigarettes are often
marketed as “slims” or “thins” to play into the social pressures on
young women to control their weight, manage stress, and look grown up.
One study found that girls who had dieted up to one time each week were
twice as likely to become smokers and girls who dieted more often had
four times the odds of becoming smokers. Adolescent girls need to be
warned that using tobacco is not a good way to lose weight.

1. Weight is not a measure of self-worth.
Why should it be? Your self-worth is your view of yourself as a total
person— how you treat others; how you treat yourself; the contributions
you make to your family, your friends, your community, and society in
general. Your weight is just your weight. Don't give it any more
importance than that. 2. List your assets, talents, and accomplishments and review that list often. Add to your list daily. 3. Focus on the positive aspects of your life — a job you like, good friends, a nice home. 4. Stop criticizing yourself. The inner voice that's telling you you're no good is a liar. View the voice as an unwelcome intruder and show it the door! 5. Avoid "globalizing." Instead of saying "I'm such a failure," say: "I didn't do that one little thing quite right, but I do most things right." 6. Let go of perfectionism,
particularly in terms of food. You probably eat pretty healthily a lot
of the time. Stop rebuking yourself for the occasional indulgence. Quit
thinking of foods as "good" and "bad." Instead, use such terms as "a
good thing to eat frequently" or " a good thing to eat occasionally." 7. Develop mastery. What are you good at? Capitalize on these things. Seek further education or training. It's fun to have things we do well. 8. Develop a more positive body image
by appreciating your body's functional nature. Thank your legs for
carrying you around. Thank your arms for being able to embrace someone.9. Educate yourself (and
those around you) about weight issues. What the research really says
about obesity and what most people believe are two different things. We
are not to blame for something science doesn't fully understand. 10. Subscribe to magazines and purchase books that show larger women in a positive light. Surround yourself with positive images of larger women. 11. Don't become preoccupied with thoughts of food and weight. Dieting can cause this. Plan what you're going to eat and then forget it. 12. Put nothing on hold as a reward for weight loss. Make a list of things you've always wanted to do and start doing them now. Being thin is not a prerequisite for living life. 13. Remember that society is not always right
about things. Just because we have a cultural obsession with thinness
doesn't make it right. Like human beings, societies are imperfect and
make mistakes. 14. Develop a personal style
that announces to the world: "I like me!" How you feel about yourself
is reflected in the way you carry yourself, your grooming, your clothes,
your smile, the way you speak. 15. Dress comfortably.
This may sound silly, but comfortable, properly fitting clothes will
improve your whole mental outlook. Tight clothes will make you feel
miserable and unhappy. 16. Surround yourself with positive, supportive people.
If they're not, tell them that you've stopped measuring your self-worth
on the basis of your weight and you hope they'll follow suit. If they
won't, there are plenty of people who will. 17. List the positive aspects of being a larger person. Has being large made you more tolerant, kinder, stronger? 18. Do not buy into the notion that there is one ideal image or shape
every woman needs to conform to. That is nonsense. People come in all
colors, sizes, and shapes; that's the beauty of the human race. We do
not have "figure flaws." We simply have diverse shapes.19. Let go of constant comparison and competition. You don't need to be or "do" better than anyone else to be a worthwhile person. 20. You do not deserve to be harassed
publicly about your appearance or weight. Decide in advance how you
want to handle such situations. And remember that insults are almost
always born of ignorance. 21. Concentrate on developing a healthy lifestyle, not losing weight. Developing a healthy lifestyle is a positive activity, while losing weight usually is based on a negative self-image. 22. Look into your past for sources of low self-esteem.
Think about messages you were given as a child and refute them. Once
you understand how you were taught to have low self-esteem, it is easier
to change. 23. Put weight in its proper perspective
and focus on what's really important in life. Do you want people to
remember you for the shape of your body or the shape of your character
and soul?

Reprinted with permission from Self-Esteem Comes in All Sizes,
by Carol A. Johnson, p152-154. Available from Gurze Books
(www.gurze.com). A certified therapist with a master's degree in
sociology, Johnson is the founder of Largely Positive, a support group
for large people at http://www.largelypositive.com/

ISAA condemns weight loss surgery
for kids

AUSTIN, TX - The International Size
Acceptance Association (ISAA) condemns the practice of performing
gastric bypass (or weight loss surgery) on teenage and pre-teen
children. ISAA recognizes the rise in the rate of obesity in children
and encourages parents to spend more interactive time with their kids
and help them become more involved in physical activities such as sports
while reducing time spent in front of the television and on computer
games. ISAA suggests reducing family intake of fast foods in favor of
healthier food choices.
ISAA has formally been against weight loss
surgery since 2001. According to the U.S. National Institutes of Health,
weight loss surgery has a 40 percent complication rate, a 50 percent
weight regain rate, and at least 1 in 100 adults die from weight loss
surgery procedures. The NIH has referred to weight loss surgery as
“induced bulimia” and Dr. Matthias Fobi (creator of the “Fobi Pouch”
used on Rosanne Barr) refers to his procedure as “induced anorexia.”
Weight loss surgery often leads to obsession with food and other serious
eating-disorder behaviors.

“Gastric bypass surgery mutilates a key
organ we need to survive, the stomach, and rearranges the digestive
system to make it do something it was never designed to do,” said ISAA
Director Allen Steadham. “You shouldn’t subject adults to that, much
less children!”

Weight loss surgery causes malabsorption,
which deprives the body of critical nutrients, including calcium and
potassium, which can lead to teenage osteoporosis, compromised immune
systems and immunity-related diseases. Other complications of weight
loss surgery are painful gastrointestinal distress, leaking of gastric
juices into the chest cavity, infection, deterioration of teeth (erosion
of enamel caused by repeated vomiting), flatulence, uncomfortable and
highly odorous bowel movements and/or loose stools. Many weight loss
surgery procedures have to be repeated, which substantially increases
the risks of complications and death.
ISAA’s Official position on Weight Loss Surgery is located online www.size-acceptance.org/wls_position.htmlFrom the International Size Acceptance Association, www.size-acceptance.org

I think this is the perfect conclusion to this series! I appreciate all the links and info you have put in here. I just want to say that while I agree that girls tend to be more concerned, I know a lot of men and boys that have bigger problems than my daughter. I guess I'm just tired of everyone focusing only on the girls. Self image is a huge problem for boys too. Just don't want people to forget that. Ok that's just my 2 cents.

42% of first, second and third grade girls want to lose weight. -- that number is SO ALARMING! I wonder how many of those little girls see mommy obsessing over her weight . My parents never said don't eat that it will make you fat instead they found ways to teach me ways to eat healthier. I remember whenever we went to mcdonalds which wasn't all that often, I had to eat my whole burger if I wanted the fries. I think it was their way of trying to get me to fill up on protein and not carbs. To this day whenever we eat, I always eat the protein first, carbs (potatoes, pasta) last.

Thank you for this wonderful post. I always think about this considering I have a three year old girl. I am trying so hard to lead a life of self-pride and self-respect. I do not spend much time in the mirror and I do not weigh myself. I eat healthy and love my body. I do not complain about my "troubled" areas but appreciate my favorite body parts. I try to teach her everyone is beautiful and a gorgeous person can suddenly become unattractive through their actions and words. It is hard work and I need improvement everyday. Thank you for a great reminder and motivating post.

It can be hard to NOT obsess over being perfect! Thank you for the conclusion of the series. I am in a weight loss journey - and I keep having to step back and remind myself, that Im doing good and to stop looking in the mirror!

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About Me

I am a Stay at Home Mom and Wife and the caretaker of a kill rescue Sharpei Mix 8-9 years ago and she is 13 now! We live at the beach in Southern CA. and I sell SCENTSY and other items on Etsy.
I take part in PRODUCT REVIEWS, BOOK REVIEWS, PET PRODUCT REVIEWS and GIVEAWAYS. I also like to discuss RECIPES and COOKING and will post mine and others as well and accept recipes from you!
I write about human and animal health and keeping fit. I write personal entries. I also write entries for other blogs and write educational curriculum for outside sources.
Enjoy the blog! Thank you, Carolyn